Last week I wrote about a proper fit for you and your bowling ball. I outlined the different types of spans and what you should look for to see if your bowling ball is fit properly. Do you remember that tip? If not, you may want to go back and read last weeks tip then come back to this one. If you have read it, then I thank you for taking a few more minutes to visit us again. Last week I mentioned how to determine if your span is too long or to short. I also touched on how to see if you have the proper pitches.  I also closed with the statement about squeezing your bowling ball. Let me make this clear, “Don’t Squeeze!!!”

First we will start with a simple question:  “Do you have to squeeze your bowling ball to hold on to it?”  If the answer is yes, then you have a fitting issue.  Back in the old days, bowlers had their holes drilled a little larger than necessary in case they experienced some finger or thumb swelling.  I would like to touch on why your fingers or thumb might swell and why you have to have a death grip on your bowling ball.

Swelling can be caused by a few things. Let’s first start with your diet. The most common cause of swelling is the retaining of fluids. If you’re the bowler that likes to have a couple adult beverages while you bowl, then it’s only a matter of time before your hand is going to swell. It is not just a matter of what or how much you drink. What you eat can also cause swelling. Food that contains high levels of salt can have a double hit. Eating high salt foods will not only leave you thirsty, resulting in drinking more, it will also cause you to retain more of what you do drink. Possibly the most common cause of swelling is repetitive use. When you are working out lifting heavy weights in repetition your muscles will swell with blood in the short term and grow in the long term. The same thing is going to happen when you bowl frame after frame with a 15 pound ball that you are squeezing with your finger muscles to hold on to.

So how can you avoid squeezing your bowling ball?

First look at your hand and the way it fits in your bowling ball. If you have to use a lot of grip pressure to hold onto the bowling ball, then your gripping holes are too big. That’s the easiest way to tell. What if you feel that they fit fine, but you still find you are squeezing the bowling ball because you think it will fly backwards in your swing? Well, the holes might be right, but your pitches might not be correct! What do I mean by pitches? Every hole in the bowling ball has either forward or reverse pitch in it. For example, if you take your hand, palm facing down and you bend your finger and thumb inward toward the center of your palm (like making a fist), then you are creating forward pitch.  Fingers going to the palm are considered forward pitch. Thumb going towards your palm is considered forward pitch. Fingers and thumb going away from the center of your palm is considered reverse pitch. If your bowling ball has excessive reverse pitch then your hand will be more open. Having a hand that is more open will result in the need to apply more grip pressure to hold onto an object. If you feel that the size of your gripping holes is correct, but you are still having issues squeezing the ball, then take it to your local pro shop and have them check your pitches. You may find out that you have incorrect pitches for your hand.

One last thing that I teach my students is this simple saying:  Hold the bowling ball like it was a bird. You’re not trying to hurt it, just hold it. That’s about the amount of grip pressure you would like to have on your bowling ball.

Until next week, don’t kill the bird, I mean the bowling ball.